Master of What Is Mine Own
by SabineLaGrande
Summary: It's not easy being 17 and leader of a private army of vampire hunters, especially when you have your own vampire to contend with. AxI. On hold, pending revision.
1. Courtesy

A/N: Alucard and Integra quote quite a lot of Shakespeare at one another. I don't care if you think it's cheesy, I like it, so it stays. You can pretty much assume that any given quote will be from either Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, or A Midsummer Night's Dream, because those are the ones that I've appeared in and/or studied closely.  
  
-  
  
Integra was beginning to notice things. Little things, really, mostly about herself. She was starting to get taller, for one. And only last week, she'd had to send out three suit jackets and a waistcoat to be let out in the chest. She'd long since given up wearing her school uniform. Walter had stopped calling her Miss Hellsing in favor of Sir Integra. Before the last Round Table meeting, no one had suggested that she send a surrogate (which Walter and Alucard insisted that she ignore), as they always had before. And they'd actually listened to her for once, instead of talking around her.  
  
She'd done a lot of growing up since her father died. Of course, it's hard not to grow up after you've been forced to shoot your own uncle in the head. Integra spat at the ground. She still hated him after 4 years. But she had better things to worry about now than a long dead, power-hungry bastard.  
  
And she was beginning to notice Alucard- or maybe he was starting to notice her. The line between his thoughts and hers sometimes got a little blurry. That was the down side to telepathy; if she thought too hard, she could go straight past her own thoughts and into his.  
  
Alucard watched her in her room while she slept. He always had. He never said a word about it to Integra, but she'd woken up and caught him phasing out of her room plenty of times. It had always made her feel comforted before. But now, it felt odd. But she didn't want him to stop. But it was still strange. It was complicated.  
  
He really was something to behold. To say that Alucard had a flair for the dramatic would possibly win some sort of prize for understatement. He towered over Integra still, and she had a feeling that he always would. He was all red and black, his skin barely visible under yards of cloth. His eyes he couldn't hide, even under his yellow glasses. Sometimes she'd catch them at the right angle so that they were transparent, see the crazy glint in his eye...  
  
Her brush snagged on a tangle in her fine hair. Integra worked it out with her fingers and looked at herself in the mirror. Daydreaming again. Brilliant. The leader of an incredibly secretive private army dedicated to the eradication of all vampires acting like a schoolgirl over one of the immortal undead. Super. Next she'd be having it off with a FREAK. Great.  
  
But Alucard was different, she told herself, tying her ascot. He was a true vampire, and bound to her. Out of nowhere, arms reached around her, picking up her tie clip and fastening it in place. "Nay," Alucard said into her ear, "I am the very pink of courtesy." Then the hands held up her jacket, and she slipped her arms into the sleeves. He buttoned the jacket, his body pressing into hers ever so slightly.  
  
"Pink for flower," she countered, turning around, but he was already gone. 


	2. Entertainment

A/N: So I've actually got a title for the whole series now. It's from The Taming of the Shrew, actually. As always, feedback is appreciated.  
  
-  
  
Integra walked down and had a quick breakfast before going to her office. Alucard wasn't there. Walter had her papers all in order for her perusal. There wasn't much to read. After the mission at the full moon, there hadn't been any new activity. Alucard was getting restless. She didn't blame him. It was rare to go two days without a raid, let alone two weeks.  
  
"Any news from Ulster?" she asked Walter.  
  
"Nothing, Sir Integra," he replied. "Since the maneuver last month, it's a gotten quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me."  
  
Integra looked over the papers once more. "Like the calm before the storm," she mused.  
  
-  
  
The afternoon was a complete waste. She spent most of it sequestered in the library with a dusty old folio entitled "Nosferatu et hys Darke Artes". Integra had been trying to brush up on her lore during the downtime. All it had gotten her was a headache and a look at a really amusing woodcut of Alucard being chased by some villagers.  
  
Dinner was uneventful. It wasn't even particularly good or particularly bad. It just was. Integra was dying for something, anything to break the monotony. It was her sworn duty to protect her country, but if Walter had come in and told her that someone had just turned the royal family into ghouls, she might have hugged him.  
  
She checked all the news services for the third time. Nothing. She phoned MI5. No information. She even reread all the mission reports for the last six months, looking for a pattern. She couldn't find one. If someone was planning something, they were doing a damn good job of hiding it. She pounded her head on the desk in a most undignified manner and thought briefly about quitting the vampire hunting business all together. Maybe she'd start a cake shop. That was where the real action was.  
  
Night found her lying on her bed, staring at the underside of the canopy. She'd had a bath, which was, sadly, the high point of her day, and dressed for bed. Alucard appeared, lying next to her with his hands folded behind his head.  
  
"My master is bored," he said.  
  
Integra rolled her eyes. "My servant has a really firm grasp of the obvious." She sighed. "Entertain me, Alucard."  
  
And then he was kissing her. Her eyes flew open in shock. Integra tried to gasp, but that only made it easier for him. His mouth was heavy and wet on hers, and he tasted just barely metallic. She pushed him back when she realized it was the taste of blood.  
  
"What in the bloody hell was that?" she shouted at him, panting. "You said you wanted to be entertained."  
  
"I certainly didn't mean like that!"  
  
"There are only three things that are truly entertaining," Alucard explained, as if it was the most basic fact and she a petulant child. "I don't fancy killing you, and I can't ever remember which way the bishop moves."  
  
"I didn't- I never-" she stammered.  
  
But Alucard cut her off. "Of course you didn't and you never. You lead a life that would bore most saints."  
  
"I have a duty to uphold," she said, trying to convince herself.  
  
"Which you were upholding so effectively by staring into space," he retorted.  
  
Integra glared at him. The less logical side of her was threatening to revolt, and she was fighting it down with all her willpower. "It's not right." She desperately hoped that he wasn't reading her thoughts right now, because she was planning some things that were really creative and possibly illegal.  
  
Alucard laughed. Damn. So he was. The light went out and the bed hangings closed around them. "All you have to do is order me away," he reminded her. But then his hands snaked their way down her body, and all logical thought subsided.  
  
"This is wrong," she protested weakly, but she let him pull her nightgown off.  
  
"But I am in so far in blood that sin will pluck on sin," he began, grinning.  
  
The darker side of her finished its takeover. "Tear-falling pity dwells not in this eye," she finished. Then his mouth closed over hers. 


	3. Idle Hands

He wasn't there when she awoke, but she didn't really care. Integra felt inexplicably good. She was almost chipper. When she walked into her office, Alucard was there, talking to Walter about something.  
  
Integra felt a hot blush spread on her usually pallid features. She didn't know why. It wasn't as if she had anything to hide. Well, she was hiding something, but it wasn't as if it was the sort of thing that came up often. It wasn't as if Walter was going to walk up to her and say, "So, how's your sex life?" But they hadn't- and he wouldn't- and she understood why, and it was pretty damn underhanded, but- Why are you blushing, Sir Integra? Alucard's voice said in her head. Trying to let everyone know? I could take you on the desk, if you like. She narrowed her eyes.  
  
Remind me to put garlic in the medical blood supply, she thought at him.  
  
Walter looked between the two of them and sighed. "I have the distinct feeling that I'm missing something terribly interesting," he said. Integra wondered if he knew. She had the sneaking suspicion that Walter always knew everything.  
  
She sat at her desk and tried to act as if nothing was amiss. "Anything happen during the night?" she asked him, not looking at Alucard.  
  
Walter shook his head. "No activity," he responded.  
  
Integra heaved a sigh. "Well, unless we've gotten so good that all the vampires in England have chosen to relocate, something's up."  
  
"I've been looking back over the records," Walter said. "This could be a natural anomaly. I've found similar resting periods over Hellsing's history."  
  
"Does the record say how my predecessors handled these periods?" Integra inquired.  
  
"Your father took a trip to France," Walter replied, looking through a report. "Your grandfather spent his time cataloguing the armory, and your great-grandfather... well, it seems he spent the time siring your grandfather."  
  
Integra couldn't help but laugh.  
  
-  
  
Another week passed without so much as a shadow of a vampire anywhere in the British Isles. Integra divided her time between Alucard and brushing up on her Latin. She was lying next to the former one night, feeling generally sated.  
  
"Perhaps they have left," Alucard said out of nowhere.  
  
"Who's left?" Integra asked, with a yawn.  
  
"Maybe all the vampires have left England," he answered. "Perhaps I'm the only one left." He considered this for a moment. "Sounds rather good, actually."  
  
"Well, then, I command you as your master not to leave with the rest of the vampires who have hypothetically moved to Germany."  
  
"What, England or bed?"  
  
Integra moved in closer to him. "Both," she said. She was soon asleep.  
  
-  
  
There was a rap at her door. Still half asleep and not really thinking, she called, "Come in." Walter entered and walked over to her bed. It dawned on her that maybe that hadn't been a good idea, but she couldn't remember why.  
  
"Sir Integra," Walter started, but then stopped. He looked at Alucard. He looked at Integra. He looked back at Alucard. He looked at Integra again. He looked at the ceiling and said a silent prayer to God. He continued. "A situation has arisen during the night at Cambridge which requires Hellsing's immediate attention."  
  
Integra shot up, holding the coverlet around her. "I'll be down immediately," she told him. Finally, some activity. The butler bowed and left her room.  
  
It wasn't until the door shut behind him that Integra's brain activated fully and she understood what had just happened. Her thoughts were much the same as those of all people in similar situations.  
  
"Oh, fuck," she said simply. 


	4. Cambridge

A/N: Well. Seems I actually have some notes to make this time. First off, while Alucard and Integra are sort of shacking up, they are not... ahem. Doing it. I thought I had implied that, but I suppose it wasn't clear enough. But rest assured that they aren't, cause it's really in Alucard's best interests that Integra remain a virgin. But I get ahead of myself. Oh, and if you've seen the anime but not read the manga- in the manga, one can only become a vampire if one is a virgin. That bit's rather important. Secondly, if you're a nerd (like me), the dormitory is Hobson's at St. Cats, one of the big single rooms on the upper floors.  
  
Many thanks to all my reviewers. Honestly, this story is just a lot of fun to write. Perhaps I'll write another fic where the characters aren't quite so OOC. Or maybe not.  
  
-  
  
Integra ran to her wardrobe and started hurriedly pulling on clothes. "Alucard, wake up and put your clothes on, we have to go!" she shouted at him.  
  
"What time is it?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled in a pillow.  
  
"I don't know what the hell time it is, just get dressed," she said, pulling her shoes on. When she stood up and turned around, he was sitting in her chair, fully dressed. Integra threw open her door and started walking hurriedly to her office. Alucard followed rather calmly.  
  
"Why did you let Walter see us like that?" she hissed at him.  
  
"You're the one who gave me the order to stay," he replied, unconcerned.  
  
"I was joking!" she countered.  
  
Alucard sighed. "I don't get humans." But by that time, they were already at Integra's office. She pushed the doors open.  
  
"What's the situation, Walter?" she asked her butler, who was still wearing a bemused look.  
  
"Fifteen students at Cambridge were attacked this morning between 0100 and 0500," he said, laying out surveillance photos on the desk. "Such a waste, wiped out a fair portion of the King's Choir. Target is male, approximately 2 meters tall, long blonde hair, wearing a black robe." Walter sniffed. "Apparently creativity is not his strong point. Nine of the victims were drained, six were merely killed, all in the same manner. The seven all became ghouls and have attacked Corpus Christi. After King's, he seems to have moved into the dining hall at St. Catharine's. Understandably, the Cambridge police have requested our aid after six of their number became ghouls as well."  
  
Integra looked over the photos. "How fast can we get there?"  
  
Walter looked at his watch. "It is 1509 now." Dammit. She knew she had overslept, but she didn't know that it was that bad. "Our men can be in place by 1700 at the latest, assuming traffic on the M11 isn't terribly bad. However, sundown isn't until 1825."  
  
She considered the situation. "We'll have the men in place by 1745 then. I'll go ahead to Cambridge to discuss the situation with the chief of police. Please fetch my car, and I should think one bodyguard is enough for the trip."  
  
Walter bowed. "Yes, Sir Integra." He left the office. Integra turned around to face Alucard, but he was already gone.  
  
-  
  
Integra was already having a bad day. It wasn't helped by the fact that as soon as she got to Cambridge, she was attacked by the police chief, who, reports had inconveniently failed to mention, had become a ghoul. She'd taken care of him, but not before he'd gotten her bodyguard. Then his lovely compatriots had knocked her unconscious. Brilliant. Being tied to a chair in an empty dormitory really wasn't how she had intended to spend her afternoon. She supposed she was waiting for sundown for the vampire to awaken.  
  
She managed to move her chair over so that she could look down at Trumpington Street. Integra didn't know how long she'd been unconscious, but it wasn't quite sundown yet. She tried her hardest to contact Alucard, but he wasn't responding. She didn't have any doubts that he'd save her, eventually. However, given his flair for the dramatic, she had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be there until the last minute. For the moment, Integra concerned herself with little things, like keeping her toes from falling asleep.  
  
The door flew open. It was the target vampire, black robes and all. Integra wondered just where the hell Alucard was. This had ceased to be amusing. The vampire loomed across the floor in a way that Integra was certain he thought made him look very imposing.  
  
"Well, well, I've got the Hellsing bitch all to myself," he said.  
  
"Are you trying to be a cliché, or does it come naturally?" Integra asked him. That earned her a sharp slap across her cheek. He pulled a knife from his pocket and cut her loose. He held her close to him and brushed her hair back away from her neck.  
  
"Oh, I am going to enjoy this," he told her. Integra rolled her eyes.  
  
"The hell you are," came Alucard's voice from the door. The vampire whipped around, holding Integra to him as a human shield, with his knife at her throat.  
  
"What the fuck took you so long?" Integra yelled at him.  
  
"I was taking a nap," Alucard responded.  
  
Integra could have screamed in frustration. "Look, will you just deal with this?"  
  
The vampire looked between Integra and Alucard. He was rapidly losing the spotlight. "You can't get to me unless you go through her," the vampire told Alucard.  
  
Alucard looked at the pair of them. He seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, but he recovered. When I shoot, you have to stay perfectly still, he told Integra telepathically. She nodded ever so slightly at him. "What're you gonna do, Hellsing's pet?" the vampire goaded.  
  
The shot came, ripping through the vampire's elbow and missing Integra by centimeters. It was enough; he staggered backwards. Alucard took his leg with the next shot. He fell backwards.  
  
Integra looked with distaste at the blood covering her. That was her favorite suit.  
  
"Releasing control art restriction to level three, level two. Hold release until target is silenced," Alucard said icily.  
  
"Yes, yes, whatever you like," Integra replied testily, taking her gun from the shelf and loading a clip of explosive mercury bullets. "Just make sure this one suffers." Alucard chuckled, his voice low and dangerous.  
  
Integra left the room and shut the door behind her. She could hear the screaming of the vampire as Alucard dealt with it. She heard booted footsteps coming rapidly up the spiral stairs. She readied her gun, but it was her guard captain.  
  
"Sir Hellsing, are you all right?" he asked.  
  
"I'm fine. Alucard is dispatching the main target now," she replied with a tightlipped smile. "Has the trash been taken out?"  
  
"All targets silenced, Sir Hellsing," he responded.  
  
"Good work," Integra said. "Now, I'm going to need two bodyguards-" she patted her pockets- "my spare money from the car, and send someone to get me more cigars will you?"  
  
"Yes, Sir Hellsing," he answered. "Er... but may I ask why?"  
  
Integra smiled, but her face was strangely devoid of cheer. "Because I'm going to the pub to forget this ever happened." 


End file.
